Dr. Anthony J. Bianco Jr. died Sunday, Jan 3, 2016, at Charter House in Rochester after a long illness. He was 89 years old.
A nationally renowned orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Bianco was a member of the medical staff of the Mayo Clinic from 1958 until his retirement in 1991. He was the first Mayo doctor—and one of the first doctors in the country—to specialize in pediatric orthopedics. Dr. Bianco was an author or co-author of more than 50 research papers, but his passion was patient care. Over the years, he performed thousands of operations to correct curvature of the spine, congenitally deformed hips, club feet and other conditions. Dr. Bianco was one of the cofounders of the Pediatric Orthopedic Society in 1971 and was its president in 1983.
At Mayo, Dr. Bianco served simultaneously for eight years—1975-1983—on the clinic’s two highest-ranking councils: the Board of Governors and the Board of Trustees. From 1982 to 1988, he was chair of Mayo’s Orthopedics Department, which long has been ranked as one of the best orthopedics groups in all of U. S. healthcare.
Born in Duluth, Minnesota, on Nov. 2, 1926, Bianco graduated from Denfeld High School and then attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis. After earning his M. D. degree in 1948, he returned to Duluth to intern at St. Mary’s Hospital and then entered private practice in partnership with his father, Anthony J. Bianco Sr., who was born in Italy and immigrated to Minnesota as a boy. His mother, Amy Walsh Bianco, was a Minnesota native.
Bianco entered the Mayo Clinic Graduate School of Medicine in 1952, but his residency was interrupted when he was called to active duty by the U. S. Navy during the Korean War. He served more than two years as medical officer on the U. S. S. Banfield, an attack transport. After his discharge, Bianco returned to Mayo to complete his residency, receiving the degree of Masters of Science in orthopedic surgery in 1958, the same year he joined the staff.
Dr. Bianco is survived by his wife, Josephine (Joanne) Bianco, and their seven children: Anthony III, of St. Paul; Richard, of Minneapolis, Christopher, of Rochester, Ann, of Rochester; Peter, of Rochester, New York.; Amy, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Andrew, of Rochester, as well as nine grandchildren.